1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-processing measuring apparatus and a measuring endoscope apparatus for measuring a position of a measuring target point by using an image obtained from one or plurality of view points and, more particularly, to an image-processing measuring apparatus and a measuring endoscope apparatus for objectively recognizing a concave and convex portion of a target by obtaining and displaying contour information of the target.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the detailed examination of a subject using an endoscope requires the measurement of the position of the subject. To satisfy this requirement, conventionally, various measuring apparatuses using the endoscope are proposed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-75019 discloses a measuring endoscope apparatus for generating contour information by stereo measurement and displaying it as a contour line. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-167272 by the applicant of the present invention discloses a subject measuring display apparatus which generates corresponding information between a contour line and an image pick-up signal and displaying it.
In the above-mentioned related arts, information on the contour of a cross section on a cut-off plane on which an observation target exists is generated for purpose of, mainly, obtaining objective information on a concave and convex state of the target, namely, concave and convex information.
In stereo measurement for obtaining a position at a measuring target point based on the principle of triangulation by using a plurality of images from a plurality of view points, it is necessary that, at a measuring target point inputted by a user on one screen, the measuring target points on the plurality of images corresponding to the view points made correspondent. However, there is a possibility that the correspondence of the target points fails due to occlusion or halation depending on a user's input.
However, in a contour information generating unit, a cut-off datum line as a datum for determining the cut-off plane also functions as a concave and convex datum line as a datum of the concave and convex information. Therefore, at two points (measuring target points) inputted by the user upon designating the cut-off datum line, if the correspondence of any of the two points fails, there is a possibility that obtained contour information becomes inaccurate.